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United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) Stock Rating Lowered by Royal Bank Of Canada
United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) was downgraded by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report released on Tuesday. They currently have a $34.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $36.00. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 15.44% from the company’s previous close.
Several other analysts have also weighed in on UNFI. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $48.00) on shares of United Natural Foods in a report on Monday, June 26th. Pivotal Research restated a “sell” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of United Natural Foods in a report on Tuesday, September 12th. Zacks Investment Research lowered United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 4th. Bank of America Corporation restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of United Natural Foods in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded United Natural Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.33.
Shares of United Natural Foods (UNFI) opened at 40.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 1.43. United Natural Foods has a 12-month low of $29.53 and a 12-month high of $49.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.86.
United Natural Foods (NASDAQ:UNFI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 13th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. United Natural Foods had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.40%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that United Natural Foods will post $2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
United Natural Foods declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, October 6th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.
In related news, insider John Michael Hummel sold 1,407 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.72, for a total transaction of $57,293.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Paul Zechmeister sold 11,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total value of $506,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,997 shares in the company, valued at $87,987.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,498 shares of company stock worth $2,659,539 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in United Natural Foods by 16,599.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,252,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,062,000 after buying an additional 5,220,963 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in United Natural Foods by 0.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,289,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,415,000 after buying an additional 24,028 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in United Natural Foods by 30.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,010,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,183,000 after buying an additional 939,946 shares during the period. Kiltearn Partners LLP acquired a new position in United Natural Foods during the second quarter valued at $74,701,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in United Natural Foods by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,666,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,167,000 after buying an additional 66,868 shares during the period.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc is a distributor and retailer of natural, organic and specialty products. The Company’s segments include Wholesale and Other. The Wholesale segment is engaged in the national distribution of natural, organic and specialty foods, produce and related products in the United States and Canada.
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LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Smith’s Food & Drug is looking to fill 200 positions as it prepares to open a distribution center in North Las Vegas in November.
Smith’s will be doing in-person interviews for jobs on Wednesday, Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at North Las Vegas City Hall located at 2250 Las Vegas Blvd. North.
The $225M distribution center is being built in North Las Vegas’ Apex Industrial Park and will disburse more than 16,000 grocery items. The items will be shipped to stores in Las Vegas, Reno, Southern Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The grocery store chain said the distribution center will allow fresh products to get to stores sooner.
Smith’s said it provides competitive pay, flexible schedules, health care benefits, store discounts, and retirement benefits. You can read more about Smith’s employment at this link.

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Firefighters with the Southeast Thurston Fire Authority responded to reports of an electrical fire at a downtown coffee shop Sunday afternoon.
According to dispatch logs, responders were notified of an apparent electrical fire at Shiplap Shop and Coffee House, located at 112 Yelm Ave, around 3:15 p.m.
First responders noted smoke inside the business and cut power to the area shortly after arriving.
Units set up stage at the corner of Jefferson Ave and Second Street.
The fire was extinguished around 3:45.
In a post later that day to Facebook, business owners thanked the response of Southeast Thurston, the City of Yelm and the community members who came to the businesses rescue on a moment’s notice.
The business also noted that nobody was hurt in the incident.
“We will assess damage over the next few days and reopen as soon as possible,” the business wrote.
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Campbell Soup (CPB) stock has fallen ~13.7% on a YTD (year-to-date) basis as of July 3. In the past month, it has fallen 9.6%.
CPB’s sluggish performance in both sales and profitability has disappointed investors, and the company has failed to drive margin growth, despite restructuring initiatives. Weak volumes, input cost inflation, and higher promotional spending have remained a drag.
CPB’s sales and EPS
During the last reported quarter, Campbell Soup’s sales and EPS (earnings per share) failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations and witnessed a YoY (year-over-year) decline, while margins have deteriorated.
The company’s EPS fell 9.2% YoY as sales deleverage, higher input costs, and increased promotions took a toll on profitability. Organic sales fell 1%, reflecting higher promotional discounts. The company’s largest business segment, Americas Simple Meals and Beverages, saw lower sales due to a fall in soups and V8 beverages. Sales in this segment are likely to remain low going forward as a result of declining soup sales.
The Fresh segment’s sales have also been falling recently and are expected to remain low in fiscal 2017 due to production constraints.
Outlook remains bleak
Given its lackluster performance in the past three quarters and its persistent challenges, CPB’s fiscal 4Q17 results are expected to disappoint investors. Its management believes that industry-wide challenges aren’t likely to subside in the near term and that these will continue to impact sales.
The management anticipates that sales will either remain flat or fall 1% in fiscal 2017, though it expects margins to improve on a YoY basis, driven by cost-saving measures. CPB’s bottom-line results are projected to benefit from share buybacks.
In the next part, we’ll discuss what’s dragging General Mills down.


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UK: Rate rise won't help "weak" car sales
The UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says that last week's rise in interest rates "will not help a weaker car market".
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee hiked rates from 4.5% to 4.75%, the first rise in well over a year.
Car sales in the UK slumped 4.1% to 168,015 units last month while year to date sales were off 4.2% to 1,409,936.
SMMT chief executive, Christopher Macgowan said: "Consumer confidence has clearly taken a knock in the last 18 months and [last week's] announcement from the Bank of England will not help a weaker new car market.
"Two factors have kept some buyers away from showrooms this year. The first is the effect of interest rate rises, the second is soaring fuel costs. The latter affects 30m car drivers and is also driving more to consider the benefits of switching to diesel power when buying a new car."
Sales of diesel-powered cars were up 2.4 % 528,263units year to date.
The SMMT said the rate of decline in new car registrations has showed signs of slowing. Volumes over the past six months were down 2.9%, whilst over the latest three months they fell by a more modest 2.2%.
However, the year end forecast is for a market down by 4.5%, as higher interest rates and fuel costs continue to bite.
July sales of 168,015 were down 7,262 units compared to July last year, or 10,668 units - 6% lower than the 1995-2005 average for July.
It should be noted, though, that July traditionally was always a 'slow' month as most buyers held off for the new registration plate prefix released on 1 August. This 'year identifier' (changed in 2001 to two numbers in the middle of the plate) now changes twice a year on 1 March and 1 September.
Private buyer demand continued to slip in July, with volumes down 9.8% in the month and 5.2% over the year-to-date. Diesel demand from the private sector continued to buck the trend, up 5.2% from January to July, as consumers increasingly look to diesel's benefits to fuel economy as UK prices nudged the GBP1 a litre mark.
Year-to-date fleet sales volumes remained down on last year's level, accounting for 49% of sales.
As fuel costs rise and consumer confidence falls, the SMMT has revised downwards its year end forecast by 20,000 units to 2.33m new cars, off 4.5% on 2005. The 2007 forecast is unchanged, with a further dip to 2.315m units expected.
UK-built car registrations have fallen by 15.3% over the first seven months of the year and seen their market share slide two percentage points to 15.6%. This reflects slowing production at some UK plants feeding the UK market. Seven out of ten cars made in the UK are now exported.
The MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle or minivan) market jumped 17.2% in July as the segment leading, and recently revised, Vauxhall (Opel) Zafira featured made the top 10 best sellers list for the fourth time this year.
The supermini segment has seen market share grow over the year-to-date. Overall two in every three new cars leaving showrooms are either superminis or small family cars.
The Ford Focus held onto number one slot in both the month and year-to-date.
Diesel penetration hit 39% for the first time this year in July. The July market rose 5.9%, to help push volumes over the first seven months of the year up 12,170 units to 528,263 units, equal to a 37.5% market share, up from 35.1% a year ago. The Ford Focus remained the top selling diesel model in July and the year-to-date.
A new generation of highly efficient, cleaner diesels, which have better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions, are helping drive demand, the SMMT said.
Alternative fuelled vehicles (AFV) have seen a further hike in 2006 registrations, on the back of new models. Three all-electric cars were launched at this year's motor show and petrol-electric hybrid car registrations have risen by 55% in the first seven months of the year, from 3,427 to 5,315 units.
While smaller diesels, biofuel cars and hybrid sales are booming, the market for gas powered cars continues to decline - down 90% over the year-to-date. The decline coincided with the collapse of government PowerShift grants in 2004 and the failure to implement any replacement scheme.


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Home Depot said Monday that it's building a massive new database that will give it a clearer picture of its customers and operations.
The new system will store information about customers, sales, inventory and company finances from a multitude of computer systems. The world's biggest home-improvement retailer, Home Depot expects to get the database up and running by the end of the year.
The system will replace 50 data mining and analysis systems now in use across the company. The steadily expanding chain, which is adding 200 new stores this year, is outgrowing it current systems, said Bob DeRodes, chief information officer at Home Depot.
Data mining, the use of statistical analysis to uncover hidden patterns in otherwise random information, remains a top priority for many North American businesses, according to a recent Forrester Research study on information technology spending. Through data mining, marketers can target customers with personalized special promotions and other information they are likely to use, dramatically reducing advertising budgets and boosting revenue.
Home Depot anticipates its new system will enable business managers for the first time to quickly gather complex data and analyze trends across the company, such as the products that sold best in a particular week, DeRodes said.
In addition to providing sales and inventory data, the database will collect information about customer purchasing and shopping patterns and will enable the company to analyze the patterns of individual customers. DeRodes said Home Depot expects this to improve customer service by helping stores better match merchandise and inventory to customer buying patterns.
Each of Home Depot's more than 1,400 stores is visited by an average of 30,000 customers every week, he said.
Protection of customer privacy is a major concern for the company, DeRodes added. Some retailers have recently faced criticismfor expanded customer-data gathering tactics.
"We are doing extensive testing and customer feedback," said DeRodes, referring to new ways the company is using customer data. "If it's not acceptable to the Home Depot customer, we won't do it."
The home-improvement company, which runs many of its information system on IBM mainframe computers, will use an IBM DB2 database as the foundation of the new data-mining system. Big Blue last year released a new version of DB2 that expands the product's data-mining features; it competes with products from Oracle and Microsoft.
Home Depot is still in the midst of selecting other data-mining software it will need for the project, DeRodes said. It's currently evaluating data visualization tools, which present information in easy-to-understand charts and graphs, as well as data extraction and cleansing tools, which help gather data from many computer systems and format it in a consistent way. DeRodes declined to name these products or their developers.
So-called dirty data plagues many data-mining projects. Seventy-five percent of the information technology directors polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers last year said they experienced problems related to faulty data. Only one-third of information technology managers at large corporations said they felt "very confident" about their company's data quality. Dirty data can cause retailers to make mistakes such as send multiple catalogs or other promotional mailings to the same customer.


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Malaysian producer cuts local PP, PE prices for Dec
The producer’s December PE prices stand at MRY5160/ton ($1216/ton) for LDPE film, at MYR5410/ton ($1275/ton) for LDPE injection, at MYR5300/ton ($1249/ton) for LLDPE c4 film, at MYR5120/ton ($1206/ton) for HDPE film and at MYR5190/ton ($1223/ton) for HDPE blow moulding and injection, all on an FD Malaysia, cash basis.
For PP, the producer’s prices stand at MYR4190/ton ($987/ton) for raffia and injection and at MYR4340-4390/ton ($1022-1034/ton) for PP film, all on an FD Malaysia, cash basis.
A converter who received these offers from the producer commented, “Demand remains weak in Malaysia in line with the ongoing depreciation of the ringgit against the dollar. We are planning to secure our regular quantities for December.”
Another converter also stated, “We believe that prices still have room for additional decreases for the coming term. Hence, we are cautiously purchasing according to our immediate needs nowadays.”
More free plastics newsPlastic resin (PP, LDPE, LLDPE ,HDPE, PVC, GPS; HIPS, PET, ABS) prices, polymer market trends, and more...
- Export PVC prices out of China provide competitive edge
- European PP, PE set for 6th bullish month, is peak near?
- Caution reigns China PP market amid scant demand, low import supply
- Major producer leads way in higher April PP, PE pricing in Saudi Arabia
- European PVC set to rise for 11th month in April
- Suez Canal blockage: Global shipping faces another challenge
- Aggressive PP offers from China continue to find way to Turkey, Vietnam
- Stats: China’s total PE imports in Jan-Feb hit fresh record high
- PVC buyers’ resistance to sharp April hikes grows in SE Asia
- European PS sentiment cools off on styrene correction; ABS remains unfazed


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Delta (NYSE: DAL) said it has begun providing in-flight loungewear for customers flying in the Delta One cabin on flights between Los Angeles and Sydney and Los Angeles and Shanghai.
The sleep and lounge suits are the latest in a number of enhancements Delta has made in the Delta One cabin, including full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access, Westin Heavenly In-Flight Bedding, noise-reducing headsets and Tumi amenity kits complete with eye shades, ear plugs and striped on-board socks, among other items.
Delta One customers are also now treated to a culinary experience inspired by the flavors of the season and a wine program developed with wines from acclaimed global vintners.
Beginning in March 2016, Delta will add the light gray cotton loungewear to all its flights between the US and China (Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai). Customers will be able to choose between a small/medium and large/extra-large unisex suit.
The loungewear is the latest in a suite of enhancements to the Delta One experience, and its introduction follows months of product and fabric testing to bring a superior level of indulgence in-flight. Customers are encouraged to take the outfits with them and use them in their home, at the hotel or on future Delta flights.
Delta Air Lines serves more than 170 million customers each year. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft.


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The celebration of the 20th anniversary of Pokemon continues. This month’s legendary Pokemon is Shaymin, the hedgehog-like legendary grass type Pokemon from the Pokemon Diamond & Pearl era.
I remember going to a Toys R Us event to download Shaymin about seven years back.
This time around you do not have to go to Toys R Us (or GameStop) to get Shaymin, you can download it directly to your copy Pokemon X & Y or Pokemon Alpha Sapphire & Omega Ruby via your Nintendo 3DS wifi connection.
Next month though it will be a return to GameStop to pick up a code for Arceus. Here are the upcoming download events:
- August – Arceus (GameStop)
- September – Victini (Nintendo Network)
- October – Keldeo (Nintendo Network)
- November – Genesect (GameStop)
- December – Meloetta (Nintendo Network)
And, for the first time in a few months, there is no other download event going. Of course, that may be due to there being enough other Pokemon related things going on.
Nintendo has been releasing more and more details about the upcoming Pokemon Sun & Moon, slated to be launched this November.
You need a Pokemon Trainer Club account and a copy of Pokemon Alpha Sapphire or Pokemon Omega Ruby in order to join in.
In addition, the 2016 US National Pokemon Championships ran this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio. That leads to the 2016 Pokemon World Championships, which will be held in up in San Francisco (about an hour from where I live) on August 19-21 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
[Insert stock location establishing Golden Gate Bridge picture]
While the main event itself is invite only, there is at least the promise of some sort of side events for people showing up just to gawk, so I’ll have to keep an eye on the news to see if there is a reason to head up that when when it happens. If nothing else, it ought to be a gold mine for street passes.
While my iPad 2 is to old to run Pokemon GO, my daughter grabbed it immediately for her iPhone and almost immediately caught a charizard in our family room. Then she wanted to head out the door to the park up the street where a PokeStop was located.
While I wasn’t able to play, other bloggers in our corner of the internet were on the job, so you can read some first hand experiences with the game here:


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Jive Software is buying data-mining startup Proximal Labs in a move that will help it derive deeper insights into social-networking data, the companies announced Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.
Microsoft has started a certification program that identifies consumer mobile handsets best supporting Microsoft Exchange's most crucial management capabilities, the company announced Wednesday.
Microsoft's announcement this week that it would begin offering its Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) software via the Azure cloud platform drew significant interest from attendees of the Convergence conference in Atlanta, but some users an...
Google on Monday denied an allegation by rival Microsoft that it lied about an important government certification.
HTC's latest smartphone, the Sensation, has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor from Qualcomm that holds the promise of faster graphics and is due to ship in Europe in the second quarter, the company said at an event in London on Tuesday.
With the new release of its Hadoop distribution, Cloudera has radically expanded the set of supporting tools for the data processing framework.
Nokia launched an updated version of its Symbian^3 mobile operating system on Tuesday, along with two phones running the software, the X7 and the E6.
Coty is growing.
Among the many reasons I'm partial to Firefox is that Mozilla's browser has long offered a built-in spell checker. (Not that I need it, of course -- we payd riters learnt gud speling in skool.)
For CIOs who distrust most technological promises (having heard too many of them), cloud computing sets off alarm bells. Yet those CIOs finding success in the cloud say their colleagues should be equally skeptical of IT managers who claim they can de...
James Johnson, an IT veteran with 25 years' experience running Wall Street technology operations, walked into Lehman Brothers' packing-box-strewn office high in the Time-Life building in Rockefeller Center. It was November 2008. Johnson had just been...
Apple's iOS will dominate the tablet market through the middle of the decade, Gartner analysts said today.
Mozilla has committed to a more aggressive release schedule for the Firefox Web browser. There were nearly three years between the launch of Firefox 3 and Firefox 4, but Firefox 5 is expected to be introduced in a matter of months at the end of June....
Adobe's coming updates to its Flash Builder and Flex cross-platform software development tools, announced Monday, don't do anything to address the exclusion of the Flash Player from Apple's iOS products.
Nokia's recent decision to close the source code for its Symbian smartphone OS likely won't affect most application developers or consumers.
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Inflation, supply chain issues and soaring fuel prices have dominated UK market chatter for months but on Wednesday investors were obsessed by THG (THG).
The online beauty and health products seller, also known as The Hut Group, continued to fall on after a torrid Tuesday during which it saw its share price lose more than a third of its value. A presentation to analysts and key investors designed to reassure about the long-term prospects for its Ingenuity e-commerce platform, spectacularly mis-fired with one newspaper reporting that the capital markets event was met with a ‘barrage of sell orders’.
An analyst who attended the event said they were left disappointed by the lack of financial detail put forward by the company.
The reset continued Wednesday with THG shares easing around 1% lower in the early exchanges to around 285p. This despite the company releasing a statement saying it ‘knows of no notifiable reason for the material share price movement, and that no material new information was disclosed at the event.’
UK GROWTH SLOWS
In the wider market, concerns about ‘stagflation’ appeared to be compounded by latest official data that showed the UK grew at a slower-than-expected 0.4% in August, while the month earlier number was retrospectively downgraded.
Growth was supported as bars, restaurants and festivals benefitted from the first full month without Covid-19 restrictions in England.
At the same time, supply chain issues and steepling energy prices (particularly gas) are forcing up the cost of living at a pace not seen in many years. Worries related to this issue were largely behind the poor performances of Wall Street and Asia’s main markets.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was nearly 1.5% lower in late local time trading, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing 0.3%. That weak Asia-wide response came in the wake of further loses on Wall Street overnight, with all three major US markets losing ground, led by the Dow Jones’ 0.34% decline.
At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 was 0.4% down at 7,101.31, although mid-caps were in better shape, the FTSE 250 up 0.4% a 22,562.36.
Topping the better performers were housebuilders led by Barratt Developments (BDEV). It was up 4.5% to 670.8p after a reasonably upbeat trading statement that dragged the sector with it. Its sites have remained open despite industrywide problems sourcing materials.
Supplying the builders is a company called Brickability (BRCK:AIM), which earlier reported a 300% increase in its revenues. Its shares were up 3.5% to 105p.
DARKTRACE UPS GUIDANCE
Cyber security firm Darktrace (DARK) saw its share price rise more than 1% to 850p after revealing that it grew its customer base by 42.7% year-on-year in the first quarter to 5,975 customers.
Annualised recurring revenue (ARR) at 30 September 2021 was $381.5 million, up 45.9% on last year. Now expecting year-over-year revenue growth of between 37% and 39% (previously 35% to 37%) as FX headwinds look likely to have a smaller impact than had been previously forecast.
Online takeaways platform Just Eat Takeaway (JET) processed 266 million orders in its third quarter, representing a 25% increase compared with the same period of 2020, leaving investors disappointed.
The stock fell more than 4% to £52.66 despite the company reporting gross transaction value of €6.8 billion in the third quarter of 2021, up 23%. The company reiterated guidance for the full year 2021, implying order growth, excluding its US acquisition Grubhub, above 45% year-on-year.
Car dealer Vertu Motors (VTU:AIM) rallied 4% to 56.59p after posting half year adjusted profit before tax of £51.8 million, a steep recovery from last year’s pandemic-impacted £16.9 million.
The company said vehicle sales volumes were running ahead of market trends in all areas, echoing commentary from rival dealerships recently. Dividends also returned with Vertu set to pay shareholders a half year income of 0.65p per share declared.
ELSEWHERE ON THE MARKET
Hedge-fund manager Man Group (EMG) rallied 4.6% to 212.2p as it reported record funds under management for the September quarter, underpinned by fresh inflows into its funds.
Advertising company WPP (WPP) reversed 1.1% to 972.4p following news that its Finsbury Glover Hering unit had agreed to acquire New York public-relations agency Sard Verbinnen & Co.
WPP said the deal valued the combined group at $917 million and Sard Verbinnen & Co at $303 million.
Pub company Marston’s (MARS) slid 1% to 72.1p despite it seeing a return to sales growth in the fourth quarter of its financial year compared to the same period in 2019 following an easing of lockdowns.
In a trading update for the year through 2 October, Marston’s said sales in the final three months of that year had risen 2% across its managed and franchised pubs compared to 2019.
SMALL CAP WRAP
Interior design and furnishings group Sanderson Design (SDG:AIM) dropped 8% to 195p even as it swung to a first-half profit after sales bounced back as lockdowns eased.
Sanderson Design, which said it was ‘mindful’ of cost and supply chain issues, reinstated its interim dividend at 0.75p per share.
Flooring retailer Victoria (VCP:AIM) gained 3% to £10.29, having upgraded its annual earnings guidance after benefitting from a rush of redecorating and a hot property market.
Victoria's underlying pre-tax profit for the year through 2 April 2022 would be ahead of consensus market expectations, the company said.
Footwear retailer Shoe Zone (SHOE:AIM) jumped 14% to 75.65p on guiding for a swing to a full-year profit following a recovery in sales in the second half and tighter spending.
Pre-tax profit for the year to 2 October would be no less than £6.5 million, Shoe Zone said in a trading update, compared to the £14.6 million recorded a year-on-year.


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Kitman – Is this Manchester United’s new home shirt?
It appears that Manchester United’s new home shirt for next season may have been leaked online already.
Initial thoughts are that at least the gingham style has been excluded after just one season, because it was fairly dreadful.
Additionally, the shirt has a button collar coming part way down the front, almost a polo shirt look feel.
Image tweeted by @ManUtd-UPD


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The Guardian reported on Tim Cook warning that the UK surveillance bill could bring ‘very dire consequences’.
“You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on. These things are becoming more frequent,” Cook told the Daily Telegraph. “They can not only result in privacy breaches but also security issues. We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors. We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails.
“Any back door is a back door for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a back door can have very dire consequences.”
Let’s hope the authorities finally see the light.
AppleInsider reported on how Apple Music offers a peek into the future of Apple Inc, and its stark contrast to Google and Microsoft.
In 2012, Google executives were reported to be upset with the lack of interest in Google Music, and particularly dismayed its inability to bring in revenue. One aspect that hurt its adoption was the lack of a mobile app for iOS.
That means Google Music is a lot like Google Wallet: years ahead of Apple, but so poorly planned and implemented that it completely squandered its vast head start.
Google apparently expected its paid on-demand streaming music service to be quite popular among Android users, but instead got a taste of what its Android developers had already been eating: the platform does not attract people who want to pay for things, particularly not anything that can be pirated. Google Music mostly demonstrated the weakness of Android as a platform for supporting commercial apps and services.
On the other hand, these users are willing to sit through ads to use the services for free.
The Economist released a statement on PageFair being hacked.
On Oct. 31, 2015, one of economist.com’s vendors, PageFair, was hacked. If you visited economist.com at any time between Oct. 31, 23:52 GMT and Nov. 1, 01:15 GMT, using Windows OS and you do not have trusted anti-virus software installed, it is possible that malware, disguised as an Adobe update, was downloaded onto your PC.
I leave websites as soon as I realise they have anti ad-blocker measures. One more reason to avoid such sites.
Also, uninstall Adobe and avoid Windows.
Ars Technica reported on websites being able to continue ignoring “Do Not Track” requests after FCC ruling.
Consumer Watchdog had petitioned the FCC to “initiate a rulemaking proceeding requiring ‘edge providers’ (like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Netflix, and LinkedIn) to honor ‘Do Not Track’ Requests from consumers.” The group’s proposed rule would prevent online services from requiring consumers to consent to tracking in exchange for accessing Web services, preventing online services from sharing personal information of users with third parties when consumers send Do Not Track requests.
When consumers enable the Do Not Track setting in their browsers, they send an HTTP header in an attempt to opt out of third-party tracking conducted by analytics services, advertising networks, and social platforms. Some companies have committed to honor Do Not Track requests, but they are mostly ignored.
The solution is to stop using these websites and use ad-blocking tools that also block tracking. Instead of Google, switch to DuckDuckGo.
AppleInsider reported on three new malware strains infecting 20,000 apps, impossible to wipe, only affect Android.
“For individuals, getting infected with Shedun, Shuanet and ShiftyBug might mean a trip to the store to buy a new phone. Because these pieces of adware root the device and install themselves as system applications, they become nearly impossible to remove, usually forcing victims to replace their device in order to regain normalcy,” noted researcher Michael Bentley.
The contaminated apps Lookout found were harvested from Google Play, infected with a payload and then republished on third party app sites enabled by Google’s open app model allowing Android users to find and download apps from multiple stores.
Apple has repeatedly maintained that Android’s permissive software installation “features” were a security risk, but Android’s architects, partners and enthusiast users denied this while portraying Apple’s App Store model—providing a single, vetted source for iOS apps—as being an unnecessarily restrictive “Walled Garden.”
It is quite serious when the infection survives even a factory data wipe.
Wired reported on Facebook giving video makers a cut.
While Facebook’s video numbers continue to grow, some critics, such as well-known YouTube creator Hank Green, have questioned Facebook’s standard for counting video views (a view is any video seen for 3 seconds or more). YouTube, for its part, counts a “view” as someone watching a video for 30 seconds or more.
Another big issue is how some Facebook pages are stealing videos and using them to gain a following and to get view counts, often without crediting the creator and disfiguring the videos with text slapped over them. Will Facebook be more active in taking down such videos to protect creators?
Federico Viticci wrote about the background data and battery usage of Facebook’s iOS app.
Every time I take a look at a friend’s iPhone, Facebook is the app with the highest amount of battery usage in the background – even with Background App Refresh turned off. This has been going on for years, and instead of fixing the issue, it does seem like Facebook is always coming up with new ways to circumvent user control and consume more energy.
The fact that a company the size of Facebook can’t optimize energy consumption of their iOS app is simply ridiculous. If they can but don’t want to (because of processes they want to run in the background, constant notifications, etc.) – well, that’s even worse.
My solution has been the same for the past couple of years: never install the Facebook app, and always access Facebook from Safari.
I uninstalled Facebook almost more than a year ago and have noticed improvement in the battery life. Whenever friends or relatives complain about battery life, Facebook always tops the battery usage list. I surf Facebook in Safari and it is more than enough.
I use the Facebook Messenger app more than the actual Facebook app so there’s no need for the app, which is a big source of distraction on top of being a battery sink.
Bradley Chambers wrote about fixing Evernote.
For a service I pay for, Evernote had become quite annoying. Instead of making its core features even better, it adding features like Work Chat, and became seriously annoying with notifications about explaining new features….over and over again. I do not want another chat client. I do not care about Evernote for Teams. I simply want Evernote to work how I have always used it. Over the past 3 years, the application seems to get in my way more than it helps me. A perfect example is that on iOS, the reminders section is easier to get to than the search bar.
This resonates with me. I used OneNote heavily to sort out my ideas, research materials and writings. It had many shortcomings and I searched intensively for a replacement but never found one until Evernote was launched. I imported my OneNote library into Evernote and loved working with it so much that I subscribed for a Premium account.
The service has been stagnant for a while, and as Chambers pointed out, the app has been bogged down by unnecessary features. Why build a chat client? Hook Evernote to Slack and it would help immensely. It might even bring in new users.
Plain Text Option
This would allow people to easily get their text in and out of Evernote. Exporting notes out of Evernote also generates a .html document. They’d be better off to export files as a .docx than .html.
One of my main complaints about Evernote is the lack of plain text support. Evernote text is stored in some form of proprietary syntax based off xhtml. You can copy and paste rich text, but your mileage may vary depending on the input or output sources.
This is why I prefer to work with plain text. Rather than risk having my formatting mangled by the various ways different apps style rich text format, I type in Markdown. This ensures that my final output would always be the consistent.
Evernote doesn’t even have to explicitly support Markdown. It just needs to allow us to save notes in plain text and Markdown users can work with our preferred Markdown converter to get our desired output.
This is where Apple’s Notes app comes in. The latest update with iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan has made the app a big contender as a replacement for Evernote, in my personal workflow at least. I tested iCloud sync across iOS and Mac. It is basically watching yourself type on the one device and watch the text appear on the next. Of course, you need a stable internet connection for that to happen. But I suspect you don’t need a fast connection, especially if you’re working with only text.
The initial impressions of the new Notes app have been positive and I’m optimistic that it will eventually become my primary, or even sole, note-taking app.
Interesting. I’m also still keeping an eye on the recent hurdles that Evernote is facing.
We at Evernote are fans of Open Source, and use a good deal of Open Source products and libraries. Now it’s time to give back to the community. During the last half year we’ve been busy preparing our localization system, writing documentation, cleaning up code. And today we’re proud to release it publicly as an open-source product! It’s called Serge, an acronym standing for ‘String Extraction and Resource Generation Engine’.
|_via [Evernote Tech Blog
||The Care and Feeding of Elephants](https://blog.evernote.com/tech/2015/10/15/our-continuous-localization-system-serge-is-now-open-source/)_
That resulted in inferior products with lots of bugs, drawing bad reviews and heavy criticism from its users. PenUltimate, a handwriting app Evernote acquired in 2012, received a lot of complaints when it rolled out an updated version for the first time in 2014, causing the company to issue an apology and another update within a week.
Skitch, an app that lets you add captions or markups to photos, has a three-star rating (out of five) on the Apple App Store, while Work Chat, the new messaging feature it released last year, is seeing a lot of negative feedback on its own forum.
Evernote Food, a standalone app that lets users share recipes and food photos, entirely shut down last month, as did other experimental products like Evernote Hello and Peek.
via Evernote is in deep trouble – Business Insider
I’ve used and loved Evernote for a long time. However over the past year, I’ve been making many attempts to migrate away from it. It’s not exactly one specific reason/issue that is causing me to move away, but many little quirks that give you the feeling of death by a thousand cuts. Sadly they’ve also killed Evernote Food which I quite liked, but that’s understandable, as it always felt like some kind of a side project.
Nowadays I seldom use Skitch or Penultimate, as they now feel clunky and troublesome. It’s not entirely Evernote’s fault, as there are other factors that count against it, such as the current version of OS X offering pretty good annotation fools, and a solid Notes app. However, Evernote’s feature set is still powerful enough that they should be able to get through this tough period.
If anything, I feel Evernote should get back to sorting out some core issues, such as:
- Sync speed
- Sync conflict handling
- Stability of offline notes
- Ease of use
I’ve since tweaked my workflow to use these apps (Evernote is still a part of it):
- Simplenote: Still my current favourite quick note-taking app due to lightning fast sync, plain-text only notes, and support OS X, iOS, and web.
- OneNote: For offline notes. Evernote’s offline notes feature is still horrible, and what makes it worse is that it’s a paid service. I’ve had too many instances where I needed an offline file while traveling and couldn’t get to it.
- Evernote: Functioning more like an “archive of everything else” which I search slowly (because it really is very slow and clunky) for random bits of information.
- Apple’s Notes: The latest update of Notes with iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan offers support for images and PDF, which I’m currently testing as a replacement for OneNote as my travel notebook. Useful information such as scans of my passport, boarding passes, etc, can be stored in here now. So far so good. If it works out, I’ll be switching from OneNote to this. It also supports multiple levels of sub-folders, which is really useful to me.
I’m still a paying Evernote customer, but unless they get these core issues fixed, I probably won’t renew my subscription and will revert to the free tier.


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After announcing last week that it intended to join Freddie Mac in selling off pools of non-performing loans, Fannie Mae released the details of its first sale on NPLs.
According to Fannie Mae, it is currently marketing its first NPL sale, which features a pool of approximately 3,200 loans totaling $786 million in unpaid principal balance.
The pool is available for purchase by qualified bidders, Fannie said.
The NPL sale will be offered in two pools. The first pool carries approximately $180 million in unpaid principal balance. The second pools carries $606 million unpaid principal balance.
Fannie Mae said that the sale is marketed with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and The Williams Capital Group acting as advisors.
“We are pleased to offer this first transaction, which will help us reduce the number of seriously delinquent loans we own while providing additional foreclosure prevention opportunities,” said Joy Cianci, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president for credit portfolio management.
“We plan to build these sales into a programmatic offering, and look forward to working with a diverse range of potential buyers over time, including smaller investors, nonprofit organizations and minority- and women-owned businesses,” Cianci added.
According to Fannie, bids for the NPL sale are due on May 6 and sale is expected to close in June.
Fannie’s first sale of NPLs meets the directive laid out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which outlined the new requirements for sales of NPLs by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to ensure the loans are transferred to capable mortgage servicers.
While Fannie is still in the planning stages of its first NPL offering, Freddie recently disclosed that it had already sold severely delinquent loans through two transactions in the past six months — one in August 2014 covering $596 million of unpaid principal balance, and the other on Feb. 5, 2015 covering $392 million of UPB.
The FHFA’s new standards for NPL sales were based on those two pilot sales.
"FHFA expects that with these enhanced requirements, NPL sales by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will result in more favorable outcomes for borrowers and local communities, while also reducing losses to the Enterprises and, therefore, to taxpayers," FHFA Director Melvin Watt said last month. "Under the requirements announced, servicers must consider borrowers for a range of alternatives to foreclosure."


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In the same time the Chinese online game companies participate in international market competition actively and speed up the pace to go out, more and more foreign enterprises also locked their view in china. Reporters learned that more than 30 countries and regions, including world-renowned companies, such as Sony, Blizzard, Intel nearly 120 overseas exhibitors took part in this year's just-concluded Tenth ChinaJoy show.
In the ChinaJoy you can see, Sony, Blizzard and other well-known game companies are increasing the exhibitors’ efforts to show the hottest game s to domestic players. The heat of Blizzard's game "Diablo 3" has engulfed the world; Blizzard also played "Diablo 3" Simplified Chinese version trademarks in the current exhibition, show this masterpiece to the domestic players.
Many foreign game industry have said that, as the most representative of the Chinese game industry development platform and window, ChinaJoy annually and conference activities are important ways to understand China for foreign game industry, came to China to participate in ChinaJoy has become the preferred activities for foreign enterprises, the relevant agencies exchange with China game industry directly.


text:
2 BIG REASONS CITADEL
COULD HAVE MADE THE
MOVE IT DID
Why Buy BlackBerry Ltd?
The company is
shifting its focus
away from high-
the U.S., and
BlackBerry just came out with its new Z3 phone in
Indonesia, a country which was once referred to as
At $190, the price point is much more affordable
than its Z10, which ran nearly $750.
The performance of the Z3 abroad will be viewed as a
bellwether for new CEO John Chen.
Niche Markets That
is its status as
Niche Security Markets
BlackBerry became the first company to receive Full
Operational Capability rating to run on the
Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense
Information Systems Agency networks.
The company also made a recent investment in
NantHealth, which could signal a move into secured
communications for health care service providers.
But Let’s Keep This In Perspective
BlackBerry could end up shifting its focus
successfully into emerging markets and secure
network niches, but the opportunity could also
That’s probably why, even though it’s a $23 million
stake, Citadel’s investment in the company accounts
for only 0.03% of all of its investments
The Secret Winner of the Smartphone Conversion
Everyone knows the big names when it comes to smartphones,
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The Biggest Thing to Come Out of
Silicon Valley in Years


text:
Internet pranks can be downright dangerous. Just ask our biggest celebrities, some of whom have "died" several times in fake online reports.
Will Ferrell supposedly died in a paragliding accident in California in 2006, according to a rumor circulated online thanks to a faux press release.
Many foods that you think have health benefits may hold hidden dangers for your diet.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Think you know where your favorite celebrity was born? You may want to think again. Check out these celebrity birthplaces that may surprise you.


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Reed splashed by Bluewater rapids
London's West End department stores are being bled white (or blue) by Bluewater, the new out-of-town mega-mall, claims Regent Street veteran Austin Reed.
Chairman Colin Evans says its flagship store in the capital has seen a sharp fall in sales: 'The whole street is suffering. These extremely good shops outside London give people less incentive to come into the West End.'
Year-to-January profits fell 9pc to £7.1m pre-tax. AR's smaller shops, including the Country Casuals chain bought last year, are doing better and retailing profits rose 61/2pc.
The shares, which had halved in a year, jumped 13
1/2p to 1181/2p, or just 71/2 times likely earnings.
Evans expects the clothing sales market to continue to be 'difficult' this year, but will not cut prices. Dividends remain 71/2p.
Trendy shirtmaker Ted Baker (172p, up 31/2p) says business in its Bluewater store is 'excellent'. Strong growth in womenswear helped double year-to-January profits to £6.7m pre-tax, dividends rising 20pc to 5.4p.
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Emergency workers and clean-up crew are among 9/11 responders still suffering significant health issues 20 years after the terrorist attacks.
More than 91,000 workers and volunteers were exposed to a range of hazards during the rescue, recovery and clean-up operations.
By March 2021, some 80,785 of these responders had enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, which was set up after the attacks to monitor their health and treat them.
From an article in the Jerusalem Post
Read the rest of the article here
Introducing our new collection of Botanical Jewelry
Make your shopping in our store today! We have a sale for you!


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New versions of Adobe Flash Player fix three critical vulnerabilities.
Microsoft is planning to try again to deliver preconfigured racks of servers to enterprise users and partners in the hope of convincing them to start moving toward the cloud.
The workhorse device will be available in several markets in EMEA this month, but there's no launch planned for across the pond.
The rugged device now has a 25 percent longer battery life with up to 10 hours of continuous use on a single standard battery.
Microsoft officials are beginning to sound the support warning bell for customers running a number of its popular products, including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and more.
Samsung is breaking out the promotions to clear out excess inventory of its smartphones. Analysts are calling for a shift in direction for the mobile unit.
This update to our Desktop Migration Checklist provides a simple, systematic way to ensure that no important applications, files, or settings are overlooked when you roll out a new user computer. From...
Samsung makes the best Android tablets and there is nothing better than these new Tab S devices.
The mobile security provider says the tool combines mobile enterprise apps for use within business processes.
When the Tour races into town, it also brings 12 tonnes of tech with it to keep operations running smoothly - take the tour.
The confluence of many lines of technology are encouraging organizations to move from a physical to a virtual world. What are the likely impacts?
The companies will work together to offer customers the Enterprise Data Hub Accelerator service and the Data Science-as-a-Service feature.
The iFixit team have their hands on an LG G Watch and a Samsung Gear Live smartwatch, and the teardown reveals some similarity between the two devices.
The German government employee recently arrested for spying for the US hid his encryption software using a kind of steganography.
Gadgets currently constitute more than 40 percent of ICT's energy demand, says the International Energy Agency, and most of it's consumed when they're sitting idle.
iboss Network Security has updated its enterprise security platform to offer better network protection against cybercriminals.
Wearable tech is nothing new. As anticipation builds - and rumors fly - over Apple's hypothetical iWatch, wearable tech's successes show us what Apple is targeting.
Political instability in the region appears to be inspiring Ukraine's techies to seek pastures new.
The iPad Air is a nice tablet and, truth be told, it meets all my needs. That doesn’t stop me from wanting these three things on the next iPad.


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One of the spillovers of the pandemic is the recent ban on large gatherings and outdoor entertainment.
After being stuck at home for three months, we have moved to a phased and gradual easing of the lockdown where certain guidelines still hold sway. Gatherings of more than 20 people are still considered forbidden; cinemas are yet to open, and the same is the case with viewing centers and other relaxation spots.
Nigerians, like people all over the world, still have to sit at home and find ways to amuse themselves. Although the general impression is that sitting at home should provide cheaper entertainment, this is not true.
Subscriptions to PayTV and online streaming platforms are not free. Unstable electricity supply also means that Nigerians, more often than not, have to use generating sets to get power. Amid all of these, Nigerians still have to cope with increasing prices from these service providers.
Reviewed prices from PayTV
In July, StarTimes, one of Nigeria’s PayTV operators, announced an upward review of its subscription prices from August 1, 2020.
With the review, the price of the basic bouquet moved from N1,300 to N1,700 monthly offering 80 channels, while the classic bouquet price moved from N1,900 to N2,500 monthly offering 100 channels.
Smart bouquet moved from N1,900 monthly to N2,200, while Super Bouquet moved from N3,800 monthly to N4,200. However, the lowest bouquet, being the Nova bouquet, remained N900 with over 43 channels.
Viki Liu, StarTimes’ brand and marketing manager, said during a virtual press conference that the price increase was caused by the increased value-added tax (VAT) rates as well as the foreign exchange rate which had impacted the company’s cost of operation.
“Our business is not exempted from the effect of the naira depreciation affecting all businesses in the country. All of our foreign content is bought in dollars and to continually serve our subscribers the best content, the subscription price has to be reviewed upwards,” Liu said.
This is the only price increase the PayTv has had, even though the company has added “15 new channels in the last six months; expanded its educational programs for kids with more channels to provide the latest information on COVID-19; and also introduced the pay-as-you-go policy which enables people to subscribe on a daily or weekly basis,” Liu said.
In a phone chat with Nairametrics, PR Manager of Startimes Nigeria, Lazarus Ibeabuchi, made reference to past reviews where StarTimes had reduced costs of some bouquets.
“For instance, in September 2017, we scrapped our Unique Bouquet (N3800) from our DTT subscription packages and crashed its major channels into Classic Bouquet whilst reducing Classic Bouquet price from 2600 to 2400. In 2018, Classic Bouquet was further reduced from N2400 to N1900,” he explained, insisting that the PayTV service provider is not out to exploit customers.
On the other hand, MultiChoice in May, first announced a slight review to reflect the new VAT rates across its DStv and GOtv subscriptions. Effective June 1, DStv Premium subscription increased from N15,800 to N16,200, Compact Plus moved from N10,650 to N10,925, while the Compact bouquet was increased from N6,800 to N6,975.
The Confam bouquet became N4,615 as against the former price of N4,500, while Yanga bouquet increased from N2,500 to N2,565 monthly subscription.
For GOtv subscribers, GOtv Max bouquet increased from N3,200 to N3,280, while GOtv Jolli now goes for N2,460 and GOtv Jinja subscribers will pay N1,640.
Though the increase was very minute, almost insignificant, consumers complained about the timing being wrong.
To their credit, both PayTV operators delayed the implementation of the new VAT rates – MultiChoice for 4 months, and StarTimes for 6 months – even though the new VAT rates took effect in February 2020.
Note, however, that MultiChoice phased out 4 lower-tier subscription packages, from June 1, 2020. This means that the DStv Family, DStv Access, GOtv Plus, and GOtv Value subscription packages are no longer available for customers.
Sources within MultiChoice declined to comment, but according to the statement on the website, the phasing out of the packages is part of “ongoing efforts to ensure our customers get improved choices and better value for money whilst delighting them with content that resonate with them.”
The company said that regular reviews of packages, which sometimes result in addition or removal of packages, are done to create capacity for new package additions and offer customers “more choice and great value”.
Information on the company’s website shows that the company started the year with the Step up promos for customers, and later offering as much as 44% and 75% discounts for eligible customers in the We’ve Got You campaign during the lockdown, but this was hardly remembered as customers complained over the price reviews.
Before 2020, the last review was done in August 2018, when MultiChoice slashed the price of GOtv Max package from N3,800 to N3,200 while other GOtv packages remained fixed.
At the same time, the price of the DStv Premium package rose from N14,700 to N15,800; Compact Plus from N9,900 to N10,650; Compact from N6,300 to N6,800; Family from N3,800 to N4,000 and Access, from N1,900 to N2,000.
The spike in inflation rates was given as reason for the increase as well.
However, the outrage over the weekend was palpable, when Multichoice sent out messages to some of its DStv subscribers notifying them of a new increase to their bouquet prices. Coming three months after the last review, the outrage from customers was understandable.
In a message sent to customers, Multichoice said: “We periodically review our pricing, taking into consideration factors such as inflation and operational costs. We acknowledge that the people of Nigeria are living under increased economic pressure and we have made efforts to freeze the subscription prices in the last year, barring any extreme factors such as the devaluation of currency and changes to VAT mandated by the government.”
Even before the increase, the clime was suggestive of a possible increase from Multichoice. What is not yet clear is whether GOtv subscribers will be affected by this recent increase, or if theirs has been reserved for another time.
From September 1, DStv Compact price would increase to N7,900 up from N6,975, while Compact plus would increase from N10,925 to N12,000, and DStv Premium jumps overboard from N16,200 to 18,400.
In retrospect, Multichoice could have borrowed a leaf from StarTimes, by capturing both the increased VAT rates and operations costs in a single increase, instead of carrying out price reviews twice within a space of three months.
|Package||Price at April 2020 (N)||Reviewed price (N)||Difference (N)||% increase|
A close look will reveal that even though Startimes increased its prices with N300 – N600, the percentage increase was high because the prices of its bouquets were already really low. On the other hand, MultiChoice made little percentage increments, which only resulted in higher figures because the bouquet prices are higher.
Online streaming alternatives and why they are cheaper
Among the reactions, some subscribers mentioned alternatives like Netflix, IrokoTV, SceneOne TV, and Live Football TV app.
These online streaming platforms have also provided options for sit-at-home entertainment, especially during this pandemic.
So, how do they manage to keep their prices the same despite the challenges hitting others in the entertainment space?
PayTV operators like StarTimes and Multichoice pay for broadcasting rights in foreign currencies, and with the heated competition where both companies seem to be in a race for broadcasting rights, there is no doubt that they are spending a lot more than they had budgeted for at the beginning of the year when the exchange rate was $1 to N360; now, the exchange has gone over N470 to $1.
Even though these foreign companies employ lots of Nigerians, they sometimes have to import experts from other countries to service or repair their equipment, and this again means more foreign exchange payments.
They also have to keep their outfits running with power supply, and the unstable electricity in Nigeria makes it even more complicated. Most times, they have to resort to alternate power sources, and we are aware that the fuel pump price recently went up from N125 to N145 per liter.
On the other hand, online streaming platforms do not have to deal with some of these operating costs. They purchase rights to the movie once and make it available to paying subscribers. This practically explains why their costs have remained stable, and relatively cheaper, despite the recent challenges.
Netflix, for instance, runs a basic subscription of N2,900 (1 device access), standard subscription at N3,600 (2 device access), and Premium at N4,400 (4 devices access). There’s also IrokoTV which has been nicknamed ‘Netflix of Africa’ by some, offering its plans for equally low prices.
The Live Football TV app is another alternative, a totally free app for football lovers. It provides match schedules with multi-platform broadcast listings, including match stats, events, live scores, news, and analysis. In truth, people who subscribe to PayTV simply for football reasons might find this a better and cheaper alternative.
However, the catch is this: even though the online streaming platforms offer cheaper or even free services, this comes at an extra cost – the customer has to purchase data in order to stream them.
Data is still not free, at least not in Nigeria.
COVID-19: FirstBank launches next-generation ATM, spearheads innovation in electronic banking in Nigeria
FirstBank customers can now leverage the real-time mobile banking capabilities of their cellphones to activate cash withdrawals at the FastTrack ATM.
In the light of COVID-19, FirstBank has launched the FastTrack ATM, a Next Generation ATM and first of its kind in Africa, designed to promote financial activities on the ATM devoid of any form of physical interaction with the machine. The introduction of the FastTrack ATM which is done in partnership with Inlaks enables customers carry out cash withdrawals without having to touch the interface of the ATM.
With the FastTrack ATM, widely referred to as Touchless Solution, the customer carries out the transaction by using his or her mobile phone to perform the needed steps designed originally for implementation on the ATM. By using one’s phone, the transaction is carried out – in advance – through the Bank’s USSD or mobile banking option. Upon the schedule, the customer visits the FastTrack ATM to complete the transaction by tapping a contactless Near Field Communication (NFC) card on the ATM to withdraw his or her cash.
FirstBank customers can now leverage the real-time mobile banking capabilities of their cellphone to activate cash withdrawals at the FastTrack ATM. The ATM solution is the Bank’s response to control the spread of COVID-19, whilst promoting the safety of customers that carry out transactions at the ATM.
Speaking on the launch of the FastTrack ATM, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited said ‘at FirstBank, we are driven to provide seamless financial solutions to ensure our customers are able to timely carry out their transactions in safe, secured and efficient ways, thereby putting them ahead in digital banking, not just in Nigeria but Africa. We are delighted to set the pace regarding the use of the Next Generation ATM in Africa which enables customers to use their mobile phones to remotely initiate ATM-based cash withdrawals via our *894# USSD banking or FirstMobile application. At the core of our strategy lies innovation which is critical to adapting to the new normal’.
According to Olufemi Adeoti, Managing Director, Inlaks, “given that consumers are more adaptable to mobile technology Inlaks – the Africa’s leading Information Technology Solutions provider together with Hyosung ATM OEM are partnering with FirstBank to introduce the first fully compliant COVID-19 FinTech ATM. This is in alignment with the ‘new normal’ desired customer experience which includes digitalization and delivering a secure contactless cash access to the bank’s FirstMobile customers for better user experience, simplicity, speed and convenience’’
In recognition of its giant strides at promoting electronic banking in the country, FirstBank’s mobile banking application – FirstMobile – was recently awarded the Best Mobile Banking App award 2020 in the Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards 2020 as well as 2019 Best Mobile Banking App by Global Business Outlook.
FirstBank has been at the forefront of promoting electronic banking solution in Nigeria. In 2017, the Bank was recognized as the first financial institution in Nigeria and the West-Africa sub-region to issue 10 million ATM cards to customers across the country. The bank was the second in Africa to achieve the milestone.
These feats are achieved through the trusts in its industry-leading innovative banking solutions by over 10 million customers on its USSD *894# banking platform and over 4.1 million customers on its FirstMobile banking application, endearing the Bank to process about 30% of card transactions in the entire banking industry in the country.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 125 years.
With over 750 business locations and over 57,000 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 15 million customers. The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been handy at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such a milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 9million people on its USSD Quick Banking service through the nationally renowned *894# Banking code and over 3 million people on FirstMobile platform.
Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management and leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by playing key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes. With its global reach, FirstBank provides prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities that are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive world-class brand and a credible financial partner.
FirstBank has been named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” six times in a row (2011 – 2016) by the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and “Best Bank in Nigeria” by Global Finance for 15 years. Our brand purpose is always to put customers, partners and stakeholders at the heart of our business, even as we standardise customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, in consonance with our brand vision “To be the partner of the first choice in building your future”. Our brand promise is always to deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. This commitment is anchored on our inherent values of passion, partnership and people, to position You First in every respect.
Biden to appoint Nigerian-born attorney as Deputy Treasury Secretary
Nigerian-born attorney, Adewale Adeyemo has been selected by US President-elect, Joe Biden as Deputy Treasury Secretary.
United States President-elect, Joe Biden, has selected a Nigerian-born attorney, Adewale Adeyemo, as the Deputy Treasury Secretary.
This was disclosed by Biden on Sunday, according to Wall Street Journal.
Adeyemo, who is a former senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration, will serve under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who Biden plans to appoint to lead the US Treasury Department.
Adeyemo’s appointment is one of many key cabinet positions Biden is expected to announce in the coming days.
What you need to know
Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo was raised in California where he obtained a bachelor’s degree before proceeding to Yale Law School for his legal education.
Before his appointment into the Obama administration, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the Hamilton Project, then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to Jack Lew in the United States Department of Treasury.
He later worked as the chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and also served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Elizabeth Warren.
In 2015, he was appointed to concurrently serve as Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council.
He went on to become the first president of the Obama Foundation.
FG to deliver 1 million vehicle conversion to autogas by end of 2021
The FG’s Autogas programme is expected to deliver at least 1 million vehicle conversions by the end of 2021.
The Federal Government has revealed that its Autogas programme is expected to deliver at least 1 million vehicle conversions by the end of next year.
The implementation of this programme by the government will herald the clean energy transition for Nigeria and the delivery of cheap transportation.
This was disclosed on Sunday, November 29, 2020, by the Federal Government via tweets on its official Twitter handle.
Pres. @MBuhari will Tue, Dec 1 rollout the much awaited National Gas Expansion Programme(NGEP) in Abuja. As part of the event, HM @HETimipreSylva will, on behalf of the FG, hand over CNG-powered mass transport buses to the NLC as part of the agreement reached during negotiations. pic.twitter.com/S8gEHv8lkW
— Government of Nigeria (@NigeriaGov) November 29, 2020
The rollout is the culmination of the resolve of President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to deepen domestic usage of natural gas in its various forms. It is also in line with the government’s plan to make gas the first choice source of cheaper and cleaner energy for Nigerians in their personal and industrial use.
The government also stated that there will be a commencement of formal dispensing of Autogas (CNG and LPG) products at two NNPC retail stations.
In addition, there will be a handover of CNG-powered mass transport buses to NLC, in fulfilment of the agreement during recent negotiations. This agreement was reached with labour during negotiations and in recognition of the role organized labour plays in the quest to bring relief to ordinary Nigerians.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported in September that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva revealed that Nigerians can now convert cars using petrol to gas, which is cheaper, with effect from October 2020.
The Department of Petroleum Resources also ordered 9,000 filling stations nationwide to begin the installation of facilities for gas products.
In October, the Federal Government estimated that the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will cost N97 per litre, as it had promised to provide alternatives to the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, for poor Nigerians.


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L'Oréal unveils system that saves water and optimizes hair washing
L’Oréal has unveiled its “Water Saver” haircare system for the salon and at-home beauty routine.
This system applies the principle of air fractioning used in rocket engines to water flows, according to the company. Water droplets collide according to a defined direction and uniform distribution. This is said to reduce the water droplets size by 10X and accelerates their speed, ensuring every drop of water is used in the hair washing and rinsing process, reports L’Oréal. Further information …


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Restaurant sells new ice cream that looks and tastes like hot dogBy Mason White 4:51 AM July 4, 2016
|Ice cream hot dog DBGB Cool Dog|
By: Tanya Malhotra
People who love hot dogs, including vegetarians, can now enjoy a cool treat called “DBGB Cool Dog,” which contains ice cream that looks and tastes just like a hot dog.
Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream teamed up with chef Daniel Boulud of New York, to produce the new hot dog ice cream.
Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream announced that consumers will be seeing Stars and Stripes when they savor the hot hog flavored ice cream on freshly baked buns, which are topped with cabbage slaw, raspberry ketchup and Dijon honey mustard.
The cost of a single ice cream hot dog stands at $7.50. The price is high for a hot dog, but Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream claims that it is very well worth it.
Boulud said that over the years, he has seen bacon ice cream, foie gras ice cream and all the ice cream in the world, but he has never seen a hot dog ice cream.
That is why he decided to make the DBGB Cool Dog. The hot dog is sweet, salty, smoked and infused with the flavor of homemade DBGB sausages.


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Nissan Predicts Incredibly Lean Year, Plans Accordingly
Nissan’s all-important turnaround has been complicated immensely by the coronavirus pandemic. Supply chains fell into in shambles as countless factories temporarily closed as a countermeasure, harming profits as demand came to a screeching halt. Now there’s a looming recession that many economists fear may surpass the Great Depression — though this was a concern years before the COVID response hit the accelerator, thanks to growing debt and the way finance has been allowed to operate for decades.
Seeing the writing on the wall, many automakers have tamped down expectations for 2020. Being in the peculiar position of restructuring before the pandemic hit — which isn’t all that unique within the industry, truth be told — Nissan is reportedly plotting a 30 percent year-on-year cut in global production.
An anonymous insider told Reuters that the manufacturer intends to produce roughly 2.6 million vehicles between April and December of this year, versus the 3.7 million units it put together over the same time frame in 2019. While the last month or so has shown the industry recovering from the immense damage done this spring, most analysts expect things to begin backsliding again this fall. Nissan seems to be heeding that advice.
Nissan is planning for production to increase from 510,000 vehicles in the first quarter to around 930,000 in July-September, the people said. Second quarter output will be about 25 percent lower from a year ago, according to Reuters calculations.
Production is expected to increase to around 1.1 million vehicles in October-December, roughly 8 percent lower on the year.
In July-September, Nissan’s output will be hit hardest at home, falling around 47 percent from last year, after the automaker said it would cut more shifts at its Japanese assembly plants. Domestic output will recover slightly through December.
Meanwhile, the company still has to contend with a vast restructuring plan that aims to cut $2.78 billion in fixed costs and reduce global production capacities immensely through 2024. Its product portfolio won’t be spared, shrinking from 69 models to just fewer than 55 while moving away from fleet sales to help overall profitability.
The silver lining here is that Nissan leadership claims there’s enough cash on hand to endure the pandemic. But that proclamation came much earlier in the year, back when everyone assumed government lockdowns would be brief and business could return to normal by the start of summer. Nissan would still be bloated and in desperate need of streamlining, but the assumption was that the following months would be a little kinder.
“For Nissan to overcome this situation, we must admit our mistakes and correct course,” CEO Makoto Uchida said in May, adding that all staff (including executives) would need to make real sacrifices. “These steps need to be taken decisively and without compromise.”
[Image: Memory Stockphoto/Shutterstock]
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- Leonard Ostrander Pet peeve: Drivers who swerve to the left to make a right turn and vice versa. They take up as much space as possible for as long as possible as though they're driving trailer trucks or school busses. It's a Kia people, not a Kenworth! Oh, and use your turn signals if you ever figure out where you're going.
- Master Baiter This is horrible. Delaying this ban will raise the Earth's temperature by 0.00000001°C in the year 2100.
- Alan Buy a Skoda Superb.
- Alan In Australia only hairdressers would buy this Monaro as its known as. Real men had 4 door sedans and well hung men drive 4x4 dual cab utes with bullbars and towbars. I personally think this is butt ugly. Later iterations of the Commodore were far better looking.
- Jeff As a few commenters on prior articles on this site about the UAW strike mentioned many of the lower tiered suppliers could go bankrupt and some could possibly go out of business if the strike is prolonged. Decades ago Ford and GM owned many of their own suppliers but as we all know over the years manufacturers have been outsourcing more parts and with just in time supply there is little room for any interruptions to production including strikes, natural disasters, and anything unforeseen that could happen. When the strike ends there will be delays in production due to parts shortages. It costs suppliers money to just keep making parts and stockpiling them especially when many parts have razor thin profit margins.


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CryptoSpend co-founder Andrew Grech said more crypto investors will be looking to cash in their trading earnings in stores. “Spending it directly is a more convenient way to sell it,” he said.
“We have a lot of requests for the card. If the market is green, someone might say it’s time to spend some of my profits. On the other side of the fence, another person might say it’s going to keep going up, I’m going to hang on to it. But we have seen more volume of spending when the price goes up. “
Mr. Grech and his other co-founder Richard Voice met in a class at UTS three years ago, where both were studying business and information technology. They are now based on the UTS Startups hub. Visa has put the couple through a rigorous process to ensure the privacy and security of user information and to ensure that anti-money laundering requirements are met.
The card will be issued by Novatti, listed on ASX, and is expected to go on sale in September. Custody of crypto assets is handled by BitGo, which holds a custodian license in New York. It will also allow users to spend other cryptocurrencies including Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum’s Ether.
Visa has already approved the issuance of spending cards for some global bitcoin exchanges, including Binance, but these are not available in Australia. Crypto.com has a Visa debit card for Australian users, but the card is not issued in Australia and its use is restricted. BTC.com.au allows users to spend crypto funds with an EFTPOS card, but it does not operate its own wallet.
Mastercard entered the crypto spending space last year as part of a partnership with BitPay, and Mastercard said in February that users of its network are increasingly using crypto cards to convert crypto holdings into traditional currencies for spending, describing the “unmistakable” trend.
Mastercard said its philosophy on cryptocurrencies is to make it easier for customers to choose. “We’re here to empower customers, merchants and businesses to move digital value – traditional or crypto – as they see fit. “
Visa said in a blog post last week that the value of crypto assets held in regulated digital wallets is in the hundreds of billions of dollars and that it is developing relationships with 50 crypto platforms, including FTX, Coinbase, Crypto.com and CoinZoom, to make spending easier. .
Visa said more than $ 1 billion had already been spent on encrypted Visa cards in the first half of 2021. “For the tens of millions of people using these platforms, one of the easiest ways to spend money is crypto is through a Visa card, ”the company said. “We are seeing digital wallets and crypto platforms creating payment products entirely with digital currency. “
CryptoSpend is already tied to the RBA-backed ‘New Payment Platform’ (NPP), which allows its users to instantly transfer crypto balances to Australian bank accounts. Customers can already pay their bills using crypto balances through the app.
CryptoSpend, which launched last October, said it is increasing the number of users by 100 per month and expects this to increase when the Visa card hits the market in the next few months.
The Visa card was designed as a “zero balance” card. Fiat is not loaded on the card; the balance is rather variable and draws directly from the value of the crypto in the wallet. It is not regulated as a stored value facility and balances are not guaranteed like in banks.
Mr. Voice said the service will be pushed into the mass market. “You will see some people hold on until bitcoin hits the X price, but you will find other people saying” I won $ 400 today, I will use the CryptoSpend card at the pub tonight ” . “


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As in many countries, COVID-19 concern has gripped Slovakia. Spending has deteriorated, with Slovakian consumers putting off larger purchases and taking longer to buy non-essentials.
Understandably, personal health has also been at the forefront of people's minds. People have been reluctant to interact with brands in person and have, instead, leaned more heavily on digital channels, severely impacting sectors such as travel and hotels which now need to find new ways to survive in a world where COVID-19 is still a threat. Indeed, this is symptomatic of a wider global trend in which 82 percent of respondents have indicated that they're more likely to favor digital wallets over cash in the future. This was further supported by a study conducted in Slovakia which indicated that over 50 percent of e-commerce businesses grew or remained stable during the peak months of COVID-19.
Undoubtedly, when COVID-19's grip was at its tightest in the first wave, customers needed the reassurance that they could still conduct their business from the comfort of their own homes, and those sectors that provided fast, seamless experiences were the ones that performed best for CX. In Slovakia, the nongrocery retail sector takes the lead in 2020, combining quick deliveries with favorable return policies and friendly services.
In addition, Slovakian customers prefer organizations that show they stand for more than just being a business. They favor brands that look out for their best interests, as well the interests of their employees and the planet.
This is reflected in Slovakia's leading pillar for loyalty, which is now Integrity, and many nongrocery retailers stand out for their loyalty programs which — as well as offering personalized deals and free deliveries — help consumers to feel as if they are 'buying into' organizations, and are becoming part of something bigger.
The pillar of Personalization is also important in Slovakia, and is the biggest driver for customer advocacy. This is certainly something the retailer Tchibo recognizes, landing at number three in this year's study. Having begun life as a coffee shop and café, the brand now sells a much wider selection of products and is praised by consumers for its relaxed atmosphere and helpful personnel. In addition, Tchibo works hard to surprise and delight, introducing new product ranges every Tuesday to keep people inspired and engaged.1
One of the brand's strongest pillars, is Resolution. Customers speak highly of Tchibo's returns policy, which allows people to return unwanted goods within 30 days of purchase without having to give a reason.
As one consumer explained: "We have great experience with Tchibo. The staff are always helpful, and there are no problems with returning products—no questions are asked. Products are always high quality."
Similarly, the retailer IKEA performs well in this year's study, landing at number two — mirroring its equally high rankings in Sweden and Australia. In Slovakia, the nongrocery retailer is synonymous with high quality and affordability, and customers often go to great lengths to shop with the brand, despite the fact it has only one outlet in the whole country.
And like Tchibo, IKEA has blended dining with retail to create an overall more pleasant customer experience, making its outlet something of a leisure destination as opposed to a furniture warehouse. It is also notable for its speed, which sets it apart from other retailers in Slovakia. Many of its products are available for instant pick-up, and it has an equally efficient returns policy which stands out for its fairness; it offers free protection for any goods that have been damaged in transit, or even during the assembly process (as many IKEA products require customers to put them together themselves.)
Slovakia's leading brand for customer experience is the book retailer Martinus, which ranks first for the third year running. Its Time and Effort score is the highest in the country. This is particularly important for Slovakian customers who praised the brand for its delivery speeds.
In addition, Martinus performs well in the pillar of Integrity. It even manages to show Integrity through its website, despite its lack of human interaction. For instance, it offers special discounts whenever it's a person's name day — celebrating once per year on a day associated with one's given name which is widely celebrated in Slovakia. It also sends out birthday greetings with discount codes, and its website has a feature which allows shoppers to round their purchases up and donate the difference to charity.
Such initiatives reflect the growing trend of customer-centricity in Slovakia, with more organizations recognizing the power of good CX. This trend has been growing for a number of years, and it's possible that COVID-19 will accelerate the process as more brands get to grips with a world that has changed considerably since 2019. This will involve intimate customer knowledge, and a desire to experiment and innovate — all the while keeping the consumer at the heart of the CX strategy.
“We have seen CX getting stronger traction over the last couple of years, with companies changing in order to put the customer in the center of their activities. With COVID-19, companies need to again rethink their business models and find ways to connect with customers living in a new reality. Those with an advanced CX approach, and a deep understanding of their customers and their changing needs, will find that they are best prepared to win their hearts and minds, and create long-term, loyal relationships." ”
Head of Advisory
KPMG in Slovakia
Leading CX brands in Slovakia
DM Drogerie Markt


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NEW YORK—Graham Media Group has renewed a multi-year agreement with Nielsen for its local TV ratings and Scarborough, the ratings service’s local consumer behavior data, Nielsen announced last week.
The agreement covers Graham Media’s NBC affiliates, including KPRC in Houston, WDIV in Detroit and WSLS in Roanoke, Va.; CBS affiliate WKMG in Orlando, Fla.; ABC affiliate KSAT in San Antonio, Texas; and independent WJXT and CW affiliate WCWJ in Jacksonville, Fla.
“We are pleased to continue working with Nielsen and its enhanced measurement solutions so that we may continue to demonstrate the value of our audience for our advertising partners,” said Graham Media President and CEO Emily Barr.
Graham Media also will continue using Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings to measure mobile and PC content.
More information is available on the Nielsen website.
Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.
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Issues related to financial stability, market structure, security, privacy, and monetary policy need to be better understood, Mester stated
In a keynote address yesterday, the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta Mester, revealed details of ongoing research into a potential digital dollar. She explained that a Central Bank Digital Currency has been in the talks for the Federal Reserve since before the pandemic and added that the Board of Governors has been “building and testing a range of distributed ledger platforms to understand their potential benefits and trade-offs”.
“Payments system is a crucial part of the infrastructure of the U.S. and a well-functioning and secure payments system is vital for a sound economy,” she explained, adding that although the pandemic had taken precedence for now, important projects that have longer-run consequences for the payments system are also being explored.
Speaking at the 20th Anniversary Chicago Payments Symposium via videoconference, Mester stated regional Federal Reserve branches have been at the forefront of taking initiatives to modernise payment systems. She mentioned the multi-year partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Boston Fed, in addition to collaboration between the Fed’s New York Branch and the Bank for International Settlements.
Depending on how CBDCs are designed, central banks could support them without the need for commercial bank involvement via direct issuance to the end-user’s digital wallets, Mester explained.
Mester stated that research into a potential digital dollar was ongoing, but clarified that such initiatives should not be considered as a “signal any decision by the Federal Reserve to adopt such a currency.”
She added that issues related to “financial stability, market structure, security, privacy, and monetary policy all need to be better understood”.
COVID 19 has created significant disruptions in the payments sector, resulting in major changes to the patterns and volume of domestic transfers, Mester explained.
“The spread of COVID-19 heightened the reliance of businesses and individuals on digital services and faster connectivity, as many employees began to work from home and consumers turned to online shopping,” Mester stated.
She further emphasised the importance of making necessary investments to ensure that US payments systems remain resilient in the face of extreme stress events in the future.
Mester’s speech comes two weeks after the Central Bank of The Bahamas announced that the country will be the first to launch a CBDC. The announcement further added that the Bahamas ‘Sand Dollars’ will be launched nationwide in October.


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Colors are passion, emotions and personality. At Siegwerk, inks and coatings are our specialty and we use color to bring the packaging and products of our customers to life.
PACE 2015: Siegwerk is a partner for packaging experts
Siegwerk is sponsoring this year’s PACE (Packaging and Converting Executive Forum) Europe forum in Brussels on February 10 – 12. Customers and other interested visitors can take a look at safe printing ink solutions by the world market leader for packaging inks at an info booth and during a presentation. “We have been participating in PACE Asia for several years,” says Sebastian Specht, who is in charge of Brand Owner Business at Siegwerk. “Due to our good experiences there, we are happy to extend that participation to Europe.“
PACE is a by-invitation event for key players in the packaging industry. It gives experts a platform for cooperation and exchange on the ever-growing challenges in the segment. Here, packaging is seen as an investment – always faced with the demand of delivering more for less. In this context, this year’s 10th European PACE event is focusing on the “future of an industry under pressure.”
In the light of new packaging technologies and trends, numerous ways of using innovation to achieve best results will be showcased. In this framework, Siegwerk is presenting solutions for safe food packaging and low-migration applications. “The forum participants represent the entire value chain in the packaging segment,” says Specht. “That makes PACE an ideal platform for Siegwerk to talk to other industry experts about modern, hi-tech packaging solutions.”
Further information on PACE can be found here.